🇳🇱 Niels Koolen

Niels Koolen is a Dutch professional-level racing driver competing in Indy NXT for Chip Ganassi Racing. His FIA rating is Silver, placing him among professional drivers in sportscar and endurance racing who are young or early in their careers. With a Racer Rating of 3,706, Koolen sits in the semi-professional band: he operates at a level where he can beat some established competitors but does not yet win races or consistently finish ahead of the strongest fields he enters. Across 58 starts from 2022 to 2026, he has recorded no wins and no podiums, finishing at an average of P17.5.[1]

Koolen's career has moved steadily upward through feeder categories toward the North American ladder. After Italian F4 and Formula Regional European in 2022 and 2023, he stepped up to Formula 2, the European Le Mans Series, and GT racing in 2024 before committing primarily to Indy NXT from 2024 onward. In Indy NXT, where he has contested the majority of his races, he has finished behind professional-level drivers with stronger records, including Myles Rowe (a former USF Pro 2000 champion) in 22 of 29 shared races, Josh Pierson in 21 of 29, and Salvador de Alba in 22 of 29. His head-to-head record against these rivals is heavily weighted toward their advantage. However, Koolen has shown he can occasionally beat established competitors; he has finished ahead of Caio Collet, a Gold-graded professional who won 20 of his 23 races together, on 20 occasions, and he has also beaten several Platinum-graded professionals in isolated races, including 2023 Formula 2 champion Frederik Vesti and 2014 GP3 champion Alex Lynn.[2]

Koolen remains active in Indy NXT as the series moves into 2026. His progress has been noted at Indianapolis; he has not yet broken through to a podium finish but continues to develop within a competitive field of similarly graded professional drivers.